Jetico Firewall

New Version is out. I started new thread, easier to follow.

v. 1.0.1.59 Freeware, 12th May, 2005.
Problem of appearing repeated popup messages fixed. Minor user interface enhancements.

 

Was wondering what happened to it, finally got the answer, thanks for posting.

 

Guess it's time to take another look...

 

I wonder what "repeated pop up messages" means. What I hope it means is a reduction in the number of apps that access networking components without accessing the network.

Note they are continuing to withhold new features.

 

Diver,

Access to Network requests in this version have not slowed down, unfortunately. It still requests Access to Network for mmc.exe when you view the Event Log and so on. This is the only thing that bothers me about JPF, otherwise I quite like it.

 

Also, if you open Windows Explorer and click on "Tools", it prompts you about "system wide hooks" or some garbage like that...

 

Jetico's legacy is its passing all leak tests and as such, anytime explorer is accesed, it goes on paranoid mode trying to detect dll injection or explorer piggyback to IE.

 

I have been trying JPF every so often as the new releases come out. After getting used to setting up and/or modifying the tables as well as creating any rules necessary for your system, this is truly an excellent software firewall program. Now that I fully understand JPF, it only takes about 2 to 3 minutes to configure it for my system in particular. Aside from the few "Access to Network" requests, I really like this program and feel very confident using it. Most software firewalls are all over the place with regards to memory use, but JPF sits steady around 6.5MB to 7.2MB of memory. Even after several hours of use; including P2P programs. I like how low the memory foot print is on my system and how it doesn't seem to slow anything down whatsoever. The system tray icon is just right, nice and simple. I have been using Sygate for several years now and I believe now is my time to switch over to Jetico going forward. When you take the time to learn something and understand exactly how things work, it all becomes worth while. Just my opinion....

 

IMHO Jetico is the best thing we, paranoid Masters and Commanders can get this days and it is for free! I must admit that I just love the Jetico’s tables concept and tweaking rules with it (not so necessary in fact) is pure fun in this pfw.


[EDIT]:But... Always some "buts"
One thing on my sys is not compatible with Jetico filtering concept. It is All Seeing Eye (ASE). :[EDIT]

Errr... SFSO warrning inbound! (System Found Stupid Operator).
Everything is oK with ASE and Jetico. It was my fault!


BTW: NetVeda is nice too but not so fun with rules.

 

What a pity that Jetico is not seen as a firewall in SP2 by the Security Center of Windows. Netveda did that a lot better

 

Recognition from the Windows XP SP2 Security Center is nothing. Anybody with SP2 should have the Security Center service disabled anyways. Windows 2000 is far superior to Windows XP.

 

This is a useless discussion that will never be won, so sorry, but no

There is a Security Center and it would be nice if companies would use it, because most people using XP will look at that thing...

McAfee is another company that doesn't get it. And they say that it is not their fault but MS, "so Microsoft should solve that". Great bs

 

Edwin. Think a little bit this way:
U have a nice xp sp1 and fine av, stealth pfw and some others nice security staff. Now... U install SP2! Cabooom!
U are in danger! No av, no pfw and even U have disabled xp autoupdates!
U moron, says XP sp2. Do something! OK, sir!
Wait a minute! Where to switch off those bs!??

 

Point 1, agree
Point 2, agree
Point 3, I used to think that w2k was better than xp before SP2 came out. Now I prefer XP. The stability issues and bugs seem to be quashed in SP2 and the display looks better.

 

Agreed on your point 3

 

I am about to install it now. I was kinda hoping they had maybe removed that "access to network" stuff in this version, but apparently they have not. Would be so much nicer without that prompt.

 

It seems that all nowadays system protection modules in pfws act this way. Am I wrong?

 

I don't know of any other firewall that differentiates like that between "access to network" and an actual outbound connection. It would make life much easier if Jetico just treated outbound traffic like everyone else..

 

Uh oh, K fires up Jetico and half of the internet in LA goes down.

 

I fired it up and added several rules and tweaked some things, and THEN I happened to toggle the couple of save settings settings in Options, and it proceeded to lose all the rule changes I had made before that. It's always something...

 

The ICS issue is still not fixed and I have to turn off SPI in HOST machine to enable net access for the LAN client.

About Win2K versus XP, Win2K is and shall always remain MS's best effort till date which is not saying much, it is comparitively hardware friendly and can run weeks without any crash.

 

Win2k is my favorite too.. Too bad it's life is about to expire though...

 

Issue #1:

After several hours of use, the system tray icon for JPF stopped displaying activity. Everything works as per normal including the tray icon menu options, except for the green arrows displaying activity. I'm certain that a restart would fix this, but I am disappointed because I really like the system tray icon for JPF.

Issue #2:

If I clear the log in JPF, it always returns when I restart the computer. All logged lines since installation. Tried many times, always comes back after restart.

Solution:

I must apologize for ever doubting my router! I really don't care for leak tests and so on, I only use software firewalls to get an understanding of how the applications on my system are working and to ensure no applications are trying to "phone home". Did somebody say Microsoft?...

 

...and Windows XP's life expires only 1.5 years after Windows 2000 expires. That means nothing. Security updates are still released for several years after. Plus we got the Windows 2000 Update Rollup to look forward to. I just hope they include Internet Explorer 6 SP1, Windows Media Player 9 Series, and DirectX 9.0c... but I doubt it.

The way I see it is, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

 

Dave-54321,

As an inbound packet filter, give CHX a try, nothing comes close to it, for apps phoning home, try and keep TCP View on and you get all the details of outbound and inbound connections with an option to terminate them as well.

I am currently using this method quite successfully.